1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an auger for a snow removing machine, and more particularly to a self-propelled snow removing machine having crawlers or drive wheels and an auger which are driven by a single engine.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Various snow-removing machines have heretofore been proposed which have a single engine for driving crawlers or drive wheels and an auger driven by the engine for removing snow. One snow-removing machine of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,247 patented Oct. 21, 1975. The auger of the disclosed snow-removing machine has a shaft supported transversely in an auger cover or housing mounted on a front portion of a body frame and a plurality of blades mounted on the shaft which is rotated by the engine. Each of the blades comprises two sector-shaped fins with their inner apexes welded to the shaft. One end of the outer peripheral edge of one of the fins is welded to one end of the outer peripheral edge of the other fin, so that their outer peripheral edges jointly form a helix around the shaft. The helical structure of the fins allows the blades to form a cylindrical shape when they are rotated around the shaft. The fins are cold formed from sheet metal, preferably No. 12 gauge, and are stiff and inflexible. The helix formed by the outer peripheral edge of one blade is relatively long. Therefore, the blades and the auger cover may be deformed by small stones or other foreign matter that may enter between the blades and the auger cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,132,429 patented May 12, 1964 shows another snow removing machine wherein one blade of the auger is constructed of racket-shaped paddles coupled to a transverse drive shaft. The paddles have cylindrical shanks fitted in respective bosses or radial bases mounted on the drive shaft at prescribed pitches in a helical pattern. The cylindrical shanks are fixed to the drive shaft by screws threaded into the bosses. The angle at which each paddle is inclined with respect to the axis of the drive shaft is adjustable, so that the auger can vary its shearing angle with respect to snow in various conditions. When the paddle angle with respect to the drive shaft is selected to be large in order to remove heavy snow, the outer peripheral edges of the blades are discontinuous, thus avoiding the problem experienced with the former U.S. Patent. However, when the paddle angle with respect to the drive shaft is selected to be small in order to remove lightweight snow, the outer peripheral edges of the blades are substantially continuous, and the problem of the former U.S. Patent cannot be solved. Moreover, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,132,429, the screws by which the paddles are fastened to the drive shaft may be loosened during use of the snow removing machine, so that the paddle angle with respect to the drive shaft may vary from an initial angle setting.
The present invention has been made in an effort to solve the aforesaid problems of the conventional auger constructions for snow removing machines.